Bob Roberts

The conservative folk singer Bob Roberts is running for the American senate. His election campaign in Pennsylvania turns mto a populist crusade. ''A vote for me is a vote for you'', chants Bob. A journalist claims that Bob is involved in drug smuggling and tries to get an interview. But he is curtly turned away by Roberts' men. The news about Bob Roberts' shady business
is published and his votes hit the bottom. Bob Roberts is in trouble ..

Comment:
The American presidential election is over. And I voted for Bob. Of course I mean the central character in the film Bob Roberts. In the middle of the usual mudslinging, there he was, stately, with a Kennedy-haircut and a face made for election posters and TV screens. Always smiling, with the guitar and a reactionary song in store ”Times are changing back''. Finally the settlement with the loose leftists of 1968 have come. But not quite as we had expected. Bob Roberts actually succeeds in parodying an election campaign and a political climate which already in itself verges on the seriously parodic. That is a feat in itself.
Bob is a calculating yuppie-fascist who
fights a battle against the usual stuff - the congress, liberals in general and Iraq. A demagogue who coldly plays with the media and takes advantage of the latest TV trend, ''Politainment''. Just like when Swedish politicians guest star as talk show hosts and show up in all kinds of frivolous contexts, in order to enjoy media exposure without having to answer insinuating and critical questions. The only real difference between Bob Roberts and George Bush and Carl Bildt is that Bob sings a lot better.
Vote Bob!
Hans Wiklund